CHAPTER 63

Emily winced as she leapt off another vine, blood dripping down her legs. Every movement she made with them right now was agony but considering what the alternative was, she did her best to push through it.

There was a screech behind her and she chanced a look back, seeing the flock of demon dirt birds still following her. She had managed to destroy quite a few of them but they kept reforming. And if they managed to surround her, that would be it.

She threw her arms up, stretching them as far as they could go, right up to the vine directly above her where she planted her bark-covered hands to prop herself before she retracted herself into them, flying right up before the flock could reach her, clambering up carefully on the vine and already moving on to the next one.

She should have expected the Sculptor to leave behind some sort of guards to keep her and people like her away. She shouldn't have expected it to be easy. She had just hoped that her stupid plan would work and that she would be able to help her friends out.

Once the demon flock had shown up, she'd been forced to move constantly, swinging from one earth vine to the next and trying to stay ahead of them. Her legs were killing her from where they'd bitten and scratched from before so she wasn't able to make too many stretches with them right now, meaning her original plan on getting to the top of the tree was now shot.

Who am I kidding? she thought to herself. Like I could have helped anyway.

She'd barely done anything against Swarm, just provided a distraction before Travis showed up and even that hadn't worked, and when the Sculptor attacked her with those saws, the best she could do was avoid them. Like she was doing now with the flying dirt freaks. If she actually managed to make it up, she wouldn't be able to help her friends or fight the Sculptor. With the power she had, she'd just get in the way.

She wished she had an actually cool power like any of the others'. She would love to have super speed like Travis, or strength like Franklin, or even Luke's telekinesis. All of them were awesome and were super useful right now. But her? All she could do was stretch and at times inflate her limbs. That was it. Not very helpful in a fight against a godlike being who could shape the earth in whatever way he wanted.

She glanced down, seeing a vine below her that would be easy to land on. From there, it wouldn't take much to escape. Going down was much easier than going up. And she bet the birds might not give chase if they knew she was leaving.

Instead, she jumped up and stretched out, slamming down on the next vine above and rising up to it. Yes, she could be a liability. She probably wouldn't do any good up there. But she couldn't just give up. That wasn't who she was.

If people only did things the easy way, nothing would ever get fixed in this world, she thought. Though I bet whoever came up with that didn't have to climb up a giant tree being chased by demon birds to fight a godlike entity from another world.

She hated how weak she was compared to the others, but that just made her even more determined to fight on. She'd never be able to stand with them if she just walked away from all this, just admitted that she could never get as strong as them. If their powers were stronger than hers, then she just had to keep going until they weren't.

Starting with climbing this giant-ass Pandora tree.

Emily came to a brief stop, looking for the next earth vine. She was breathing heavily, her muscles aching all over. But she was about halfway up now. To her, that was a victory. Though it would have been better if she could do it in half the time. She looked down at her bark hands, glad to see they were still holding up. It seemed The Sculptor didn't pay attention to bark. She guessed it was because with all the actual trees he uprooted to do this, he was touching plenty of bark right now. But if her hands and feet actually touched the soil? Well, it was best not to find out.

She looked above her, scanning. "Alright, which one…oh come on," she muttered, hearing the flock coming up again. "Can't I get a brea-"

The dirt bird flew right up in front of her, screeching madly. She screamed and moved to strike it but it got her first, one of its dirt claws making a gash down her hand. She gasped in pain and took a step back but realized her mistake too late, her foot slipping off the vine. She tried to regain her footing and had almost done it until the bird attacked again, driving her completely off.

"Shit!" she screamed, seeing that she was falling directly into the flock below, all waiting to tear her to shreds. Thinking fast, she shot out both arms. One went up, looking for an upper vine, while the other went below to the birds. She inhaled sharply and expanded her hand as much as she could, tripling its size. It was harder to move like this but she was able to swing it right into the flock, knocking most of them aside while grabbing a few of them and crushing them in her palm.

With that taken care of, she looked up to see how close she was to grabbing a new vine when she suddenly felt a fierce jolt of pain in her arm. The other dirt bird was back, stabbing right into her stretched out arm with reflexively began to retract.

"No!" Emily cried out but it was too late, as she continued to fall below. Acting fast, she stretched out her legs instead, wincing from the pain. This wouldn't stop her but it would soften the impact. Marginally.

Her feet struck the vine below hard, causing a fresh wave of pain to flood up her limbs. She was still able to retract herself slowly from there, the rest of her body coming to calm stop on the vine. She huffed, crouching over as she did her best to recover.

CRUNCH!

She froze for a second, that one sound making her blood go cold, before she glanced down at her foot, a whole bunch of broken bark surrounding it.

"Oh no," she muttered. Her bark-foot had broken.

She was touching the soil.

She turned and leapt off and not a second too soon as the vine suddenly came to life, spikes shooting out from it to try and stab her. She stretched her arm out, swinging up to the next vine until she saw it was also shifting around as were the others around it. The entire vine network was shaking.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this," she said.

The vines came roaring to life, all separating from the trunk to come whirling at her. She shrieked and moved, landing on one and instantly jumping to the next and the next, never staying still for even a second. But the second she landed on a vine, the whole network knew where she was and began chasing after her. She had to dodge and duck from constant attacks. One vine nearly speared her while another came inches from ripping off her leg. She leapt into midair, rejoicing in that one instant of calm, while stretching out as far up as she could, her bark covered hands still keeping her safe.

SCREECH!

"Oh come on!" she yelled out as the dirt birds returned, going right for her defenseless arms and forcing her to retract them. Instead, she landed on one of the lower vines, her bare foot instantly giving her away with all the other vines converging on her. She cursed and started running again, cursing again as stone spikes shot up from where she was running. She leapt over to the next vine and then the next. She leapt to one particular big one, only to see it open up into a set of earthen jaws ready to chomp down on her. She stretched her arm out, catching a tooth and using it to leverage herself above the mouth and onto the next vine.

"Ok, maybe I should head down now," Emily said to herself, glancing at the solid earth way below her. "But of course I won't," she continued, already leaping to a higher vine. "Alright Emily, you can do this. Just take it one…oh."

One massive vine was swinging right for her at the speed of a racecar. She couldn't jump over or duck under it and she had no time to stretch anywhere. She couldn't do anything.

So her body moved on its own.

One second she was standing there, watching the vine bear down on her, and the next she had hit the dirt and was looking up at the treetops, the vine swinging right over her. She blinked, not sure as to what just happened. There had been no room to duck, so how did she dodge that? It should have been impossible.

She looked up and gasped, seeing her body. It was pressed flat against the vine. As in, her entire body was flattened, looking like pancake. She wasn't sure what to do. Part of her felt like screaming while the other part felt like throwing up. She had no idea her body could do something like this and she didn't really like knowing it could.

Her feelings on the matter were shut down when she felt the soil shift beneath her. She stopped thinking and just acted, willing her body up and back to normal, already running before the spikes that shot up could hit her. She ran to the edge and jumped off, looking for the next vine to leap to when she heard the dirt birds screeching again.

Damn it! she cursed. She needed to stretch up somewhere fast to avoid them. But her legs were still too weak and she didn't know how much energy she had left in her arms. Still, she was prepared to throw one out when she had a thought. If her body could go flat like that, what else could it do?

She acted without thinking, recalling that feeling of stretching her limbs out and applying it to her whole body. In one smooth motion, her hips suddenly elongated and her chest soared upwards while her belly was stretched out. She wasn't quite sure how all her organs and ribs were handling this but decided it was best not to think about it, just to keep moving. She pulled herself up to one vine and then retracted her whole body to it, using that momentum to launch herself forward again. More vines came at her and she began twisting her body around them. She dodged a stone spear by sucking her belly a foot to the side, a sharpened vine coming to behead her by throwing her head backwards down her neck, and a dirt bird's strike by bending her body so far back she would probably win every limbo contest ever. But with each move she made, her fatigue grew. She couldn't keep this up for much longer and she'd barely made any progress on going up. She really wanted to consider going down, but her body just wouldn't allow her, constantly pushing her onward. So she just had to find some way up there. Hopefully before she collapsed.

She heard the screeches again and sighed, cursing. Those things were never going to leave her alone, were they? "Alright then," she muttered, turning to face them. "Let's end this then."

"Emily!"

She thought she must have misheard it, that the strain and fatigue had worn her out so much, but then she heard it again and she looked to her side. She blinked, sure that she must be imagining things, but no. Luke and Franklin really were floating just beyond the vines, waving to her.

She heard the birds screech closer but was already moving, running to the side now. She could feel the potholes emerge beneath her feet but dodged around them. She sensed the spikes growing around her but moved around them. She heard the birds right behind her but moved faster, never stopping until she reached the very end of the vine and leapt off into the open air, her arm stretching out from her as she did. She saw it move in slow motion, reaching for Luke and Franklin, doing its best to reach them. She knew more vines were reaching for her, wanting to drag her back. Knew the birds were swooping down to stab her. But all she focused on was her hand clasping down on her friend's and that she was suddenly dragged forward, her hand retracting herself into it right up until she landed safely in his arms.

"We got you," Franklin told her.

"Thank you," Emily panted.

"Damn it man, I wanted to do that!" Luke complained, glaring down at the two of them.

"Sometimes…you really are…just…UGH!" Emily said, shaking her head.

Luke gave her his usual smirk before he took off, flying up high. Emily turned as she heard the bird screech and give chase but she didn't need to worry as they were suddenly shoved backwards and then broken apart into dust.

"Thanks, Luke."

"Not a problem. Now, shall we go help our team?"

Emily glanced upwards at the treetop, knowing whatever was up there was so much worse than what she'd just been through. "Hell yeah."

Sumin struggled to come up with some kind of formation to help them here but the high winds slapping them in the face and the fact that Swarm and the monstrous Sculptor formation were clinging to them and doing their very best to kill them made it difficult to concentrate.

"Now look what you've done, you bastard!" Swarm screamed, his microbots writhing around him. The other formation, that Sumin had mentally given the name of 'Bob' too as it slightly reminded them of their aunt's new husband, was doing its best to tear into both their and Swarm's formations, not caring about the fact they were plummeting to their deaths, though it was just a puppet so Sumin supposed death was one thing it never did have to fear.

They were still in their tiger suit and were doing their best to force both Swarm and Bob off of them but all the constant moving around made it difficult. Their stomach was flying all over the place and it was had to even catch a breath with the wind moving by so fast. They needed to come to a stop or else they would never win this.

Sumin remembered all the magpies that hung around their house over the years, the way their wings caught the wind when they flew. With barely a thought, those same wings emerged from their back, flapping mightily and slowing their descent, allowing them to reassert control. They managed to shove Bob aside, watching them fall off. But Swarm's microbots quickly formed into tendrils around them, tying the two of them together.

"If you think you're getting rid of me that easily, think again!" he spat.

Sumin had hoped, but they knew Swarm was far more tenacious than that. They grimaced as the microbots wrapped around them, trying to find a way in through their own tiger formation but Sumin had made sure to block out all exits so they just started stabbing at it, trying to make their own entrance.

Sumin felt the pinpricks in their mind and knew they had to get rid of Swarm soon. They conjured up several blades, slashing through all the tendrils Swarm had made but just as fast the microbots reformed, wrapping even tighter.

"I told you, it'll take more than that to get rid of me. Now, let's see how your construct handles this!" Swarm cried out, all of his microbots, practically an ocean, began to wrap around Sumin. They gritted their teeth, preparing to escape, but before the microbots could cover their face, they noticed something out of the corner of their eye and twisted midair so that Swarm was in its path. "What?" he muttered just as Bob slammed into him, wings made out of dirt now springing out from the formation's back. Swarm screeched in pain and turned his attention on it, his microbots leaving Sumin to attack.

Sumin instantly retreated, getting some breathing room between them and creating a small platform for them to rest on. Swarm's microbots seemed to have multiplied, making him all the more powerful. Still, if Sumin could just reach the man then they could end this. Bob was another problem all together. The two fighters were swirling around the air, their forms clashing together as the dirt and microbots fought for even an inch on the other. Sumin was tempted to let the two just hack it out with one another and fight the victor but they should have known life didn't work that way, the two of them heading right for their platform.

Sumin braced themself, constructing several shields to block their path while simultaneously getting out of the way. Swarm and Bob smashed through the first three but the fourth one was just able to stop them cold.

"If you think I'm losing to a bag of dirt or a little runt, think again. I've studied wing patterns as well, so let's make this a fair fight." Swarm backed off for a second as all his microbots formed up around him, building on one another over and over, growing bigger with each second that passed until he was three times the size of Sumin's house and still growing. Extra limbs sprouted out as well as several long tentacles in the back. He also brought back the chainsaw and cannon arms.

In response, several tendrils ripped out of the tree behind them and slammed into Bob's back. It instantly began to grow as well, dirt, rocks, and all other earthen materials being shoved into it. Its body expanded massively, extra limbs and even extra heads appearing until it was equal to Swarm's height.

Sumin eyed the two transformations before concentrating and expanding their own power outward. Their tiger shell tripled in size in a second and kept growing. Unlike the other two though, Sumin did not add any other features like extra appendages. Instead they added a shield and a sword to the tiger's hands, though they did add a tail to complete the look alongside the wings which did look out of place on the tiger warrior.

This is what their sister would refer to as the Titanic Kaiju Battle Royale. She always had loved the Godzilla films and Sumin was sure she would get a real kick out of this.

The three of them eyed each other, just staying silent for a moment while flapping in the air. Sumin couldn't help but be reminded of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, though they did have a hard time deciphering who was the bad and who was the ugly in this scenario.

Then Bob rushed, two of its limbs stretching out to attack both Sumin and Swarm. Sumin raised their shield and deflected the blow before slashing their sword at the formation, elongating the indigo blade to not only slice through the arm but also most of their shoulder before it got stuck.

Swarm also blocked Bob's arm attack and sent his own tendril back to strike at Bob. While he was distracted, Sumin used the opportunity to fling their shield his way. He looked up in time and managed to dodge it but Sumin just guided it back, knocking into him from behind.

They released their sword and attacked again but Bob held them at bay, its arms taking on a metallic tint to it that deflected Sumin's strikes. Deciding on another approach, Sumin created duplicates of the sword and had them all attack Bob at once, trying to cut the formation down to size. However, several earthen blades appeared around Bob's body that held Sumin's own blades back.

"Don't ignore me!" Swarm cried out, a wave of microbots rising above him to crash down on Sumin and Bob. Sumin quickly made a massive wall to block it off, gritting their teeth from the effort. With all their different constructs, it was hard to keep them all going at once. The wall would give much sooner rather than later.

Bob took advantage of their distraction as one of its arms solidified even more and landed a blow on Sumin's stomach, folding them over for a second but that was all the formation needed to land an uppercut that had Sumin reeling back, losing their grip on the wall and the blades. The wave of microbots instantly came crashing down and Sumin was forced to dive through the air to avoid them. Bob suddenly remolded itself, its extra appendages wrapping around it over and over until it resembled a dirt cocoon.

"You think that can stop me?" Swarm laughed, his microbots slamming into Bob and immediately digging into the cocoon. It seemed to Sumin that it could stop Swarm as none of the microbots appeared to be even making a dent in Bob's outer shell. It had packed its dirt so tightly together that they weren't even sure a bomb could make it through.

"Well," Swarm said, stopping for a second, "let's try this then." He lifted up his large chainsaw arm and went to work with it though it only made slightly more headway than his previous attempt. Once he noticed that, he brought out his cannon arm, pressing it right up to the cocoon. "You made a big mistake, you brainless lump of clay. Now I'm going to blast you all the way to…wait, what? No!"

His cannon arm suddenly exploded in microbot pieces and Sumin watched in shock as massive earthen tendril covered in hardened spikes took its place. "It traveled down the barrel's cannon," they murmured in realization. It was apparently not 'brainless' after all.

"I'll get-" Swarm wasn't able to finish that sentence as seven large spears shot out from Bob's abdomen to strike Swarm's microbots. The second they did, the tips of the spears suddenly transformed into something new. One became a saw itself, cutting right through the microbots, while another grew more spikes that broke through the microbots. A third seemed to explode, taking a bunch of bots with it, while another grew a fist that crushed as many bots as it could.

"No!" Swarm yelled, forming his own arsenal of weapons but more of Bob's tendrils rose up to stop them. Swarm tried to create a new wave of microbots but Bob just created its own wave of earth that clashed with Swarm's, forcing it back.

Sumin had been watching for about a minute now but knew they couldn't wait any longer. The two of them were both so wrapped up with each other that they were open. Sumin remembered once when they were a kid and a large fly had been annoying their mother while she was cooking, so she'd instinctively grabbed two frying pans and squashed the fly between them.

Now, two massive frying pans, conjured with as much strength as Sumin could muster, appeared on either side of the combatants. They didn't have time before Sumin cried out and slammed the two pans together, smashing Swarm and Bob together as hard as they could, microbots and dirt alike spilling out.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy as they quickly felt pressure pushing the pans back. Rather than needlessly fight it, Sumin dropped the pans and instead recalled when they had seen a herd of stampeding bison in a film. Now, an indigo herd of the creatures appeared in front of them, already charging forward. They heard Swarm curse, his microbots moving to protect them while Bob's cocoon hardened around him. However, at the last second the herd disappeared, neither opponent noticing the second herd right behind them that now crashed into them and knocked them aside.

Swarm had it the worst, his microbots wings flailing wildly, causing him to plummet as he tried to regain control. Bob appeared as impassive as ever, but Sumin did notice the formation had lost a lot of dirt in that attack. They had to press their attack or else lose ground.

However, faster than Sumin could even think, spiked tendrils of dirt whipped out, striking fast. Sumin felt their tiger form falter under the onslaught. They tried to form constructs to defend themself but the tendrils cut them down before they could fully materialize. They flapped their own wings, trying to escape, but the tendrils quickly tied around the wings, holding Sumin back.

That's when Bob fully joined the fight, launching forward on its own wings to strike hard, multiple limbs appeared all over its body to batter at Sumin's tiger. They struggled to keep the form intact but each blow was like a strike to their own body, albeit much softer though still painful, as if getting hit by a rubber bat over and over.

They heard a slight cracking sound and saw their tiger form was beginning to fracture, cracks appearing all over. It wouldn't last much longer and then Bob would break through and then…

The image of them next to Althea, beat up and broken appeared in their mind. Their parents, sobbing as their lives just got so much worse. They couldn't let that happen. They refused.

Sumin roared out in desperation and shape took form faster than Bob could break it, a formation of something they had seen in their darkest nightmares ever since that fateful day. A giant locomotive that came chugging at record speed.

Bob raised some tendrils to block it off but Sumin poured everything they had into it, the train destroying whatever came into its path. Tendrils, spears, saws, spikes, they all fell to it. Sumin kept going, the train shoving Bob across the sky so fast that the dirt formation began to fall apart. But Sumin knew that wouldn't be enough. They needed to destroy Bob permanently. But…how?

"You always think too much," they heard Althea say, feeling the flick of her finger on their forehead. "Remember to go simple sometimes, ok?"

Simple. Sumin looked at the glow of their power, the way they bent the light into formations. It was light. That was their power. Pure light.

Bob finally managed to break free from the train, knocking it aside where it vanished into nothing again. But by the time the earth formation turned, it was too late. Sumin held their hands together and concentrated. They didn't need to imagine anything right now. They just called on their power, summoning it all into their hands. A glow appeared between them, becoming brighter and brighter, a deep indigo shade that lit up the sky.

Bob charged forward at the same time that Sumin let it out, a blast of pure light like from those anime Althea loved that expanded as it left Sumin's hands, growing bigger and bigger until it struck Bob, encompassing the formation. Sumin felt resistance but kept going, pushing everything they had into it, not allowing Bob to make anything new. They felt it crumble away from their power but kept going further until they finally ran out, slumping in midair as the light faded. When they finally looked up, Bob was gone, only a trail of ash left in the formation's wake.

"One down…" Sumin muttered, girding themself, "and…one to…g-"

They were struck from behind, their tiger form finally shattering as they spun in the air.

"Thank you for getting rid of that thing," they heard Swarm say behind them. "It was getting tedious. Now, let's wrap this up so I can go take care of the Sculptor."

"I…" Sumin muttered, turning to face him, "won't…let…"

Sumin sent another block of microbots their way and they barely had time to conjure up a shield before they were hit again, their shield breaking on impact as they were flung away.

"You won't let what?" Swarm asked as Sumin just managed to create a platform to stop them from falling. "Kid, you can barely stay upright. Why are you so determined to stop me? I am trying to save the world here. The Sculptor will destroy us all."

"Cannot…let you…harm Eustace," Sumin managed, trying to collect their energy.

"Eustace? The host?" Swarm yelled. "Are you freaking kidding me? That kid is gone. He's dead. There is no releasing him from the Sculptor. Look, do you want to know why the higher ups haven't stepped in? They don't want to risk an altercation with the Sculptor but that doesn't mean they won't do nothing. As we speak, they're preparing a very special warhead that will completely eradicate the Sculptor and everything else for miles around. We're down to minutes before they launch. So stop fighting me so we can just beat that thing up there and live!"

Sumin wasn't surprised to learn that that was the plan. They had wondered why no one had come, but a nuclear deterrent felt on par for these 'higher ups.' But it also didn't change their opinion. If the warhead was to launch in a few minutes, that meant they still had time to save Eustace and stop the Sculptor for good. And in order to do that, they had to beat Swarm.

"I do not abandon my comrades," they said. "As long as I am around, none of them will get hurt. That is my vow."

Swarm snorted audibly. "Have it your way then."

The microbots zoomed right for them and Sumin gave everything they had, conjuring all sorts of things from their mind to fight back. A horde of rhinos, a flock of birds, several monster trucks, even a dragon all emerged. Sumin's microbots also transformed, humanoids and monsters mashed in midair, metallic and indigo colors flashing across the sky. Sumin couldn't keep up with everything they created, forming them as fast as they could think them and it seemed Swarm was doing the same. A metallic wolf fought an indigo crane. A giant and a truck. A dragon and a knight. A serpent and a sentient tree. They went on and on for the next minute, creations forming to bash one another only to reform into something else. Whenever Sumin thought they were making headway, Swarm would come up with something else. They created a massive bowling ball that knocked his microbots aside, but he just created a large bat that swatted it aside.

Sumin huffed, catching their breath for a quick second, before placing their hands together to create the light beam attack again. But just as they fired off, Swarm created a cannon that fired off its own blast from the microbots' own energy, the two beams meeting in the middle. Both Sumin and Swarm pushed hard against the other but in the end neither could keep it up, both dropping out.

Sumin knew they were quickly running out of time. They needed to do something now or else it would be too late. They normally preferred to think things through but had no time now, so they just acted, flying forward with everything they had. Swarm moved to meet them and the two clashed again. Sumin instantly tried to push the microbots out of the way with their power to get to Swarm but it became clear that they didn't have enough. They'd used up so much that they didn't have enough for this. But Swarm's microbots were still going strong.

"You put up a good fight, but this is the end!" he announced, bringing his microbot chainsaw down on Sumin who just managed to get an armor around them to block it. But even then, the grating of the saw quickly wore down their defenses, cracks forming all over the shield. Sumin tried to push back but couldn't against so many microbots. They were all over, attacking from every direction, each bot attempting to break through Sumin's shield. Pretty soon, Sumin was completely surrounded, nothing but microbots in sight. They cried out, feeling their shield weaken with every second. They needed to come up with something but they had nothing. How could they beat all the bots?

Bots. Plural. Sumin's eyes snapped open at that thought. Why was that important? They winced as the chainsaw drove deeper, but kept thinking and watching. And as they saw all the bots attack them, it hit them in one go.

They summoned their power once more, knowing this would be their last attack. They pushed out, but they didn't push the microbots. They pushed between the bots, sliding their power through all the tiny gaps the bots had. There were so many of them and they connected together well, but unlike Sumin's formations, they still had those gaps, no matter how thin or small.

Sumin kept going, their power flowing like a river as it found the path of least resistance through Swarm's horde, moving deeper and deeper until finally they found their target. Swarm was in the center of his microbots, controlling them all, and he never saw them coming. He barely had time to look up before Sumin enveloped him with their power, wrapping him tight.

Almost instantly, all the microbots left Sumin alone and went to protect their master but it was too late. Sumin knew from what Gabriela had told them all after last night that Swarm had upgraded himself to have control nodes for the microbots all over his body. So they looked, feeling all over his body for them. With their power completely surrounding him, it only took a few seconds. They found each one, over a hundred, implanted his skin but still discernible. Sumin gritted their teeth as they grabbed hold of each one with their power and, with a push, crushed them all.

The microbots all went still for a second before they all fell apart and turned lifeless, dropping to the ground so far below.

"What?" Swarm screamed. "No! What have you done? No!"

Before he could fall as well, Sumin grabbed hold of him in an indigo platform. "I wish I had thought of that last night. Could have spared me an uncomfortable conversation with my parents. And a back injury."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Swarm asked them. "You've doomed us all. I was the only chance we had to stop the Sculptor and now you've…you've…all my work and you…AGH-"

Sumin cut him off by sealing him in an indigo box, too tired to hear him ranting. "I won't let you die, but I don't have to hear you talk. Now come on. I still have a world to save."

Gabriela knew she had to be dying now. She was drowning in acid with a diamond tentacle wrapped around her. She was trying to hold her breath but she wasn't sure why she was bothering. There was no way she could escape from this. She was still glowing with power which seemed to be keeping the worst of the acid at bay, but it was only a matter of time before she was forced to take a breath and the acid would enter her lungs.

She struggled but the tentacle's grip was too tight for her break free from. After everything she'd been through, she would have hoped she could at least see it through to the end. But this was it. There wasn't going to be any last minute heroic rescue.

You don't need rescuing.

Gabriela blinked at that thought. Where had that come from?

It's never a bad thing to rely on others, but remember you can't count on people to always save you. I had to rely on myself and my own strengths to make it in this world. And I know, when things seem impossible, you'll find your way out using your own strengths.

Gabriela remembered now. Her mom had told her that, after Gabriela had gone into a long rant over the idiocy of the fairy tales Snow White and Sleeping Beauty where the women all needed to be saved by a 'Prince Charming.'

Thanks mom, but I don't think motivational speeches are going to help here. I'm not strong enough to break out of this and my powers don't…

Heat. She didn't remember where, maybe science class, but she had learned that diamonds were susceptible to a certain amount of heat. And she remembered making toast with her powers.

She didn't know how much it would take or even how hot she could burn or what would happen to the acid and she didn't care. She was almost out of breath and if she was going to die anyway, it was for sure going to be in a bang. She unleashed her power, feeling her body get hotter and hotter. She could feel the acid bubbling up, but the diamond still felt too hard so she increased the temperature even more.

You always did love a good challenge, didn't you? she asked herself, making her body as hot as it could be. You knew there'd be obstacles in your life. Well, here's the big one. Time to end this.

She opened her mouth and screamed, her entire body feeling like it was on fire. The acid was bubbling and steaming so much, it resembled a sauna. And the diamonds?

One second they were there and the next, they weren't.

It took Gabriela a few blinks to realize what just happened. Then, she was blasting her way out of the steaming lake back into the open air. She looked around quickly, spotting the Sculptor looking up at her in surprise, Travis in a cage of ice with the icicles looking like they were two seconds away from impaling him, and no sign of Madison. There was an ominous pool of metallic stuff that made Gabriela real uneasy.

"Well look at that. You actually-"

Gabriela ignored the Sculptor, flying right down to Travis and heating up the area so much that the ice all just melted away. She saw there were still metal bars so just melted through those as well until Travis was free.

"Thanks. But you need to hurry. Madison's down there!" he cried, pointing at the metal pool.

Gabriela instantly moved over to it, shoving her hands in as deep as they could go. She could feel it pulling on her but ignored it, reaching as much as she could until she hit a thick barrier. She placed her hands around it, stepping into the pool to do so, and pulled on it. She grunted from the effort but didn't give in. She could feel the metal stuff reaching up for her so just powered up her feet, flying herself up and the thick shell in her hands. The metal stuff still pulled on her but her power was stronger. She yanked as hard as she could and with a loud POP she was soaring up with Madison's force field in her arms, Madison gaping at her from inside.

"Well," the Sculptor said as Gabriela landed, Madison dropping the field and stepping beside her, "you just keep surprising me don't you? I suppose you think you're ready for the next round. But what do the three of you hope to accomplish?"

"Count again, jackass."

Gabriela felt a surge of relief and joy as Sumin landed next to her, an indigo sheen around them. At the same time, Luke swooped in with Franklin and Emily beside him. They all looked tired and worn out but they still all faced the Sculptor with hardened expressions.

"Now you deal with all of us," Gabriela told him.